First-time racer meets his personal goals at annual event

Peter Bazeley and Lee Churchill lead the pack in the BMO Financial Group Downtown Dash Thursday. Churchill would go on to win the male division of the five- kilometre event with Bazeley finishing second.

The biggest difference between running alone and participating in an event like the BMO Downtown Dash is the crowd of people lining the street, watching every step of the way.

That’s what dawned on Corner Brook native Steve Hynes as he competed in his first race of any kind on Thursday — and he saw both the pros and cons.

“It can motivate you to do more or it can freak you out a little bit and cause you to gas out a little quicker,” he said. “Probably a bit of both happened to me.”

Corner Brook’s Lee Churchill emerged as the overall winner of the race with a time of 16:38, edging out last year’s victor Peter Bazely by a mere second.

Alison Coleman of Corner Brook was the top female runner with a time of 22:02, which put her 27th overall.

It was only about a month ago that Hynes, his wife Krista and her sister Lindsay Taylor decided to all compete in their first race together and circled the Downtown Dash on the calendar.

“We said we were going to do it, so that was it,” Hynes said.

There was no real motivation, outside of the fact the three enjoy staying in shape and hitting the gym frequently. They knew people of all age levels did it, so the idea wasn’t particularly intimidating.

“We just thought it was a fun little challenge,” said Hynes. “It was just something to do, more than anything.”

Hynes said the trio, who entered the race as a part of Team Grenfell for the Corporate Challenge, tackled the route a few times beforehand and did a little training on the treadmill to prepare.

He had no designs on crossing the line first in his inaugural running event, but wound up a respectable 48th place overall, finishing with a time of 24:08. He said his goal heading into it was to finish among the top 70.

Krista and Lindsay just wanted to break the 30-minute barrier. Krista finished with a time of 29:47 (137th overall), while Lindsay clocked in at 29:51 (139th).

“Between the three of us, we’re pretty happy,” said Hynes. A local senior baseball player who also dabbles in basketball and hockey, the athletic 29-year-old still found himself hitting the proverbial wall a little throughout his run.

“Oh, I stopped a few times,” he said with a laugh. “I definitely couldn’t run the full 25 minutes straight ... the muscles are hurting a little bit for sure.”

Thursday evening’s weather, best described as a fine mist, actually helped make the trek a little easier for him, especially with the humidity that has lingered in the air recently.

“It definitely cools you off a little bit,” said Hynes. “It was cooler than we thought it was going to be, which was really good.”

His primary focus for the rest of the summer is to win the senior A provincial baseball title with the Corner Brook Barons, so he’s not sure about any more races this year.

Next year’s Downtown Dash, however, is a definite — not just for him, but also his 20-month-old daughter Macy.

“I’ll get my daughter into the half-kilometre run next year, hopefully,” he said.

Peter Bazeley and Lee Churchill lead the pack in the BMO Financial Group Downtown Dash Thursday. Churchill would go on to win the male division of the five- kilometre event with Bazeley finishing second.